They aren’t laughing at Astros anymore, but will Houston be buyers in 2012?

Many onlookers were snickering in the scorecards this spring, expecting that the only thing the Astros would challenge for in 2012 was their record 106-loss season. No, it’s not 2015 and the Astros aren’t world beaters just yet, but nobody’s laughing as the Astros finish off the second month of the season.

Houston is even turning the heads of national sportswriters and others who predicted Houston to finish no better than sixth this season in the NL Central. The Astros are 20th in the latest MLB power rankings on ESPN and 21st over at CNNSI, who observes the Astros “…just keep rolling along.” As you will undoubtedly recall, Houston had a year-long reservation in the bottom spot for all of 2011.

After the tough double header loss Monday, the Astros are 22-27, thanks to a 13-13 month of May. With two games to go this month, it could be a turn around of sorts for the local nine. The Astros haven’t had a winning month since September 2010 and the last winning month of May was back in 2008.

Improved? Yes, absolutely. On the road to recovery? Of course. Ready to contend? Hmmm. It’s hard to go against the grain on this one as the Astros continue to hang with every team they face and have settled into the middle of the NL Central, just a few games off the pace of Cincinnati and St. Louis.

How long will they hang? How deep into the season will the starting pitching — namely Bud Norris and Wandy Rodriguez — continue to turn in top-of-the-league performances? Has the streak of competitiveness already ceased with this recent rash of losses?

Astros’ GM Jeff Luhnow is riding the tide and even indicated recently that the Astros could be buyers rather than sellers this summer. “It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” he told Ken Rosethal. “I don’t necessarily know if we’ll take on a whole bunch of salary. But we’ll look at every opportunity that comes our way, evaluate it in terms of short-term impact and medium and long-term impact.”

Buyers? Seriously? If the current trend continued and Houston stayed in the middle of the pack, that could mean the Astros would hang onto Brett Myers, Carlos Lee and Wandy Rodriguez. Of course, with their contracts, they could probably be traded through even the August deadline.

If Houston is looking to improve the club, would the Astros move players like Jason Castro or Brian Bogusevic or Wilton Lopez or any other players on the major league roster to improve the club for a second half run? Should they?

You would assume that prospects like Paul Clemens, Austin Wates or Telvin Nash would be off limits, right? Don’t even mention Jonathan Singleton or Jarred Cosart.

And, where would the team look to upgrade? The team is set in the bullpen and on the infield — possible exception of third base — and center field doesn’t seem to be a troublesome spot. The team could look to become more consistent at the outfield corners and perhaps the end of the rotation. Even then, how much would the Astros be willing to sacrifice the long-term progression for the short-term gratification?

It’s too early to tell which players might be available, and it’s also too early to tell which areas will ultimately require an upgrade.

What’s clear at this point is that the Astros’ rebuilding program has taken a fast forward approach and that the organization may not be content to wait for 2015 to contend.